Illarion.org

I have now combined many of my chapters of my previous story and have chosen a more appropriate title.  The first two stories (The Mystery of Magic, The Master of the Ring) have been combined with the first chapter of what used to be the War of Illarion to form... well, The War of Illarion.  The second chapter of the former War of Illarion has been turned into The Mystery of Magic.  I am now adding the second (third) chapter of The Mystery of Magic, as it has been approved by all the people it concerns (finally).  The War of Illarion story can be found on the Rangers story section for those of you who haven't read it yet.

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The Mystery of Magic


Chapter One

It took a few more uneventful weeks until Astral's house was rebuilt, but it was worth the wait. The new house was about double the size of the previous one, and the furnishings were superb. Astral moved back into his house, and all was peaceful and happy.

On his bookshelf sat many expensive and advanced magic books, for he had accumulated these over time. Even with so many there already, there were still many to learn. He was currently working on a new book entitled Hept, the rune of Ice.

"Hept Kel!" he spoke, trying to keep it silent, but in his anger it came out in a yell which echoed through the forest. He stood alone in a clearing far from the town of Illarion.

"Hept Kel!" he tried again, this time even louder. He swung his wand and tossed it to the ground in a rage. Just then something caught his attention. A small creature flying overhead made a high pitched screech. Astral looked up just in time to see a bird-like figure gliding overhead. But this was no ordinary bird, as he soon noticed, it had a tail!

Astral sat dazed for a few seconds after the creature had left his view. He wondered what this creature could be, for he had never seen one before.

"A Dragon!" he shouted, accidentally stepping on the wand that Korwin had given him. But in all the excitement he didn't notice. Then he heard the creature coming towards him again and quickly tossed part of his packed lunch on the ground hoping to draw the creature to it.

And it worked. Sensing the smell of the meat, the creature suddenly swooped down and landed near it. It moved hastily towards the meal. But then it spotted Astral and stopped dead in its tracks. It just stared at him, and he stared back. This standoff lasted for a few seconds.

Then somehow sensing Astral's intentions, the creature began to move again, although very cautiously. When it got to the meat, it poked at it with it's nose a bit before it took a small bite. Then another bite until the meat was reduced to nothing but bones. Then the creature looked at Astral with a sense of trust and began to waddle towards him clumsily.

Astral was very startled by this, and he was unsure on whether to run or stay put. But this was decided for him. He turned to run but found out quickly that his foot had snagged on a tree root. The root was unforgiving and would not release his foot, so he had no choice but to meet the creature. He did not want to frighten it, for if it was a dragon it would most likely become hostile.

The creature stopped a short distance from Astral and stared at him. It then turned it's head to the ground and looked directly at the tree root which had untangled Astral's foot. It's head pulled back slightly, it blinked, and then a green flame shot out of it's mouth like lightning. Startled, Astral tried to move quickly away from the creature, but could not get far. The flame hit the base of the root and it instantly shriveled up, becoming easy for Astral to tear apart.

"Thank you!" He said softly to the creature. It produced a small noise and moved it's head. Astral took out some more food from his pack and layed it on the ground for the creature. It took the food and ate it quickly.

Then the creature turned it's head to the sky and made another sound. Then it spread its wings and prepared to fly. Just before it took off, it turned to Astral and gave him a look of content. Then with one mighty movement of it's wings, the creature was once again sailing through the air.

Still amazed by the experience, Astral sat in thought for a short time. Then he got up and retrieved the broken wand from the ground where he stepped on it. It was snapped in two pieces and most of the carefully constructed points were snapped off and lost in the grass.

He carried the pieces back to town and quickly deposited them inside his newly built house. Then he was off to the library to reasearch this creature that he had met -- or that had met him...

And now for the long awaited chapter....  It has already gone through many people who have approved it and it now has had many revisions.  Enjoy!


Chapter Two:

"Repair!" said Korwin softly as he stared at the wand. It levitated slightly off the table and then the two pieces fastened together. "Repair!" he whispered again and the delicate pieces of the wand re-grew.

"Great." said Korwin, "Now I only have to get it enchanted again." He had come to check on Astral but had found that he had gone out. Instead, he had found the broken wand. He took the repaired wand and clipped it on his belt. Then he wrote a short note and left it just inside the door.

********

Meanwhile, Astral was sorting through legends in the library.

"Can I help you with anything?" asked the librarian when he saw Astral combing the shelves.

"No, thank you." replied Astral kindly. And the librarian carried on with his business and Astral with his. He had already sorted through many books and it grew close to sunset. But he was determined to find the correct book before he could rest.

Then he saw it. "Tales of Dragons" it read. He picked up the book and flipped to the table of contents. The book was divided up into many sections, some detailing dragons and some of dragon look-a-likes.

"Poison Wyrm" came the title as he flipped the page. He read much in this chapter about them and discovered that nobody had ever come face to face with the creatures.

"Then I am the first one!" he thought happily. It seemed that these creatures feasted on left over meals of other animals. Scavengers. He read even more of the tales in the chapter just to make sure it fit.

But he had forgotten the time. It was now far after sunset, and he was reading by the light of the candles. The librarian had forgotten about him and already locked up and left. Then he looked out the window when he had completed the chapter.

"Oh my goodness!" he said in surprise as he noticed that the sun was already shedding beams of light over the horizon. He quickly put the book in a spot that he could remember it and walked out of the library. He reached the door, opened it, and shut it silently behind him. Then he looked up into the sky and noticed a dark shape moving silently and quickly. Then there came a faint green glow >from in front of it and Astral knew it was the creature he had met.

He made his way back to his house after studying the creature for several moments. He slipped in the door but failed to notice the note that Korwin left. Right to bed he was, and he fell asleep almost instantly.

The next morning, he was awakened by the sound of knocking at his door. Knowing that it would probably be Korwin, he quickly rushed to the door, and sure enough, there stood Korwin.

"Good... Afternoon!" he said. "I see you must have been awake most of the night. I left you a note about your wand, but I see you did not notice that either." Korwin gestured at the rolled up scroll on the counter. "In any case, here is your wand." he said, handing the wand to Astral.

"Indeed I did sleep late." responded Astral, taking the wand. "I was in the library looking up old legends of Dragons."

"Oh? Why did you do that?" Korwin asked.

"Come in, there was a strange experience yesterday that I think you might want to know about." Astral said, letting Korwin inside and setting the wand on the counter.

"It all started when…." and so Astral told Korwin the whole story, and Korwin was quite amused by this. Then Astral decided to take Korwin down to the library to show him the book that he had found. Astral found the book exactly where he had left it.

"I will be a while reading this, so you best go off and do something else." said Korwin, sitting down in the chair that Astral had used the night before. "I have been meaning to tell you about this for some time now.  Go to the headquarters of the Magic Academy. It is easy enough to find, there are signs all around town. Ask to speak to the headmaster of one of the teachers there. They will explain to you what you must do to become a student. I am a student there myself. Fetch a bit of gold before you go, in case you wish to take the first test."

"Very well." said Astral. "If this magic school trained you, then I suppose it wouldn’t hurt me. Thank you for the advice."

Korwin nodded his head and Astral was off. He gathered 50 gold coins >from his treasury at home, and his wand, and was off to the Magic Academy. It was easy to find, as Korwin had said. When he stepped in the door, he saw an tall elf wearing long capes.***

"Are you a teacher here?" Astral inquired.

"Yes, I am a teacher of the Magic Academy." replied the man. "I presume you are a new student, as I have not seen you before.  My name is Damien."

"Nice to meet you. My name is Astral." he said. "I would like to know more about this academy you teach at. I was told by Korwin that I would need some gold for some sort of test."

"Well then Astral, I will explain this to you." said Damien. "Upon joining, you must take the first test before receiving classes. After you complete this test, you have a choice of either attending the classes or taking the next test. This continues until you have reached a level suited to you. The first test is to cast the spells ra pen and ra kel at 60 percent efficiency. Would you like to do this test now?"

"Sure, I think I am ready." replied Astral, reaching into his pocket for the 50 gold and handing it to Damien. "Here is the test fee. Where shall we go?"

"Follow me." said Damien. He led Astral to a large room, which appeared to be a practice hall. The room was very bright, but no source of the light could be seen.

"Here you shall do your test." said Damien.

Astral pulled out his newly repaired wand and readied it for usage.

"Begin with ra pen, please." said Damien.

‘ra pen’ Astral said silently. The ball of blue fire appeared like normal. Something magical was protecting this room from spell effects, but that could only be expected. Astral was able to cast this spell at 100 percent, as he had practiced a lot prior to this test.

"Very good!" responded Damien with a smile. "Now continue with ra kel."

‘ra kel’ Astral said silently. Once again, the spell succeeded and Astral cast it at 90 percent.

"You have passed the first test, congratulations." Damien said, again smiling. "Here is a schedule of the available class times. You may attend whichever class you want as many times as you like, now that you are a student. Attempt the next test when you feel ready. But right now I suggest getting some sleep."

"Thank you." said Astral happily. "I think I will take your advice and get some sleep. Thank you for your time!"

Damien smiled and nodded.

Astral made his way from the academy to his home, but failed to meet up with Korwin on the way. Since it was already getting so late, Astral decided not to bother him and just go directly to his house. He had a small meal for dinner and then climbed into bed, feeling content about what he had learned in the past few days.


(Edited by Astral at 5:26 pm on April 15, 2002)